briefer

Speaking to Today, McEwan contrasted the contemplative letters of the past - from the likes of Napolean and Darwin - with today's briefer emails, which may miss deeper personal insights.

The answers have grown into stories, now briefer than before but still mostly complete.

If my husband and I were fine spinning the wheel of chance, our search would have been much briefer.

For many, over the years the crimes get more serious, the sentences longer and the time spent between prison spells ever briefer.

Three years afterward the world is in a slightly better mood, and the time difference between New York and Paris is much briefer.